Ohio State middle linebacker Curtis Grant attended the funeral of his father yesterday. Curtis R. Grant, 54, died last week in Richmond, Va., after a short illness.

“I’ve been talking to him, letting him know we’re all here for him, that if he needs anything, I got him,” junior linebacker Ryan Shazier said yesterday of his teammate.

Coach Urban Meyer echoed those sentiments.

“Prayers are out to Curtis and his family,” Meyer said. “Just a tough situation.”

Meyer said he expects Grant will return in time to prepare for a game on Saturday against Iowa in Ohio Stadium.

Door opens for Schutt

The Buckeyes defense will be bolstered by the return of sophomore defensive tackle Tommy Schutt, who missed six games because of a broken foot suffered in preseason camp.

“He was a guy that might not have had the title at the start but was a starter for us,” Meyer said, “and then went down in training camp.”

Schutt has been working on his conditioning the past few weeks with football performance coordinator Mickey Marotti and his staff.

“Coach Marotti says he’s one of the best at taking care of his business and getting ready,” Meyer said. “So he should be a go on Saturday.”

Defensive tackle Joel Hale welcomed the news.

“I’m so excited to have Tommy back. The entire (line) is happy to have him back,” Hale said. “It’ll be good to fit him into the rotation, get some breaks for some guys like Mike Bennett. Get him in, get him moving, we’ll see how it works.”

Hall tentatively back

All Meyer and his staff have said about what caused senior running back Jordan Hall to sit out a game at Northwestern two weeks ago was that he “tweaked” his knee, presumably the same one that was injured a year ago and kept him out of the last half of the season.

But Meyer said Hall was expected to practice yesterday as the Buckeyes resumed work after the weekend off, and there is a good chance he could play against the Hawkeyes.

“We gained a week (of rest) with the bye week, which is a bonus,” running backs coach Stan Drayton said. “He’s feeling much better right now, and we have plans for him to practice this week.”

Eat, eat and be merry

Hale said he took Shazier home with him to Greenwood, Ind., over the weekend, where they watched football and ate a lot. Home-grilled steaks one night and takeout fried chicken the next helped Shazier get back up to his playing weight of 230 pounds, the linebacker said.

As for watching football, he said he tuned out of the Michigan-Penn State game well before the Nittany Lions won in four overtimes.

“I already knew who I wanted to lose, so that’s all that matters,” Shazier said.